ARISTOTLE

(384-322 BC)

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I. ARISTOTLE and PLATO

  • Plato on Poetry:
  • irrational, illogical, emotional (inspired)
  • arouse emotions & thus interferes with the pursuit for pure reason
  • 2x removed fromTruth (imitation of imitation)
  • unrealistic
  • teaches nothing
  • *Plato’s challenge:
  • to “show that she [poetry] is not only delightful but beneficial to orderly government and all the life of man.”
  • Aristotle’s rebuttal/answer to Plato’s challenge= POETICS
  • by codifying Poetry, he demonstrates that it needs skills and adheres to certain logical rules that must be learned & followed
  • the good men as TH=models of behavior
  • emotions aroused=purged, thus making for better citizens

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II. ARISTOTELIAN TRAGEDY

*Key terms regarding Aristotelian tragedy, as discussed in his Poetics:

“Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.”

  • 6 basic elements: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle (costuming, scenery=stagecraft), song
  • TRAGEDY: The imitation of an action, not the telling of an action; that is, it is a dramatic recreation (mimesis) rather than narration or simply telling. It demonstrates what has happened and what may happen under the laws of probability, of cause-effect; thus, tragedy is different from and superior to history. The “fear” aroused and purged in the catharsis relates to these laws.
  • PLOT: The most fundamental and important aspect of tragedy, referring more to the structure or organization of the play than merely “what happens.”
  • probable, believable, inevitable
  • arising from the actions of Tragic Hero
  • (laws of probability & necessity)
  • complex:
  • with Recognition (anagnorisis)
  • with Reversal of Fortune (peripeteia)
  • with suffering
  • arouses pity & fear in audience (catharsis)
  • plot=#1; character=#2
  • The best plots are those whose resolutions arise from the construction of the events rather than from characterization—the laws of probability and necessity, cause and effect.
  • Also, the plot must be a unified whole: a beginning, middle, and end:

expositioncomplicationclimaxdenouementresolution

  • The plot must also be self-contained, with a unity of action, its events operating under the rules of necessity. Thus, Aristotle frowned upon the reliance of deus ex machina (see below).
  • Aristotle also mentions that tragic plots should be “of a certain magnitude”; that is, they should possess universality as well as complexity.
  • Complex plots should also have peripeteia (see below) and anagnorisis (see below), the former leading to the latter in a matter of cause and effect.
  • CHARACTER: The tragic character, secondary to plot, should possess a moral quality, for who should pity the fall of an evil man? The tragic heroes should also be realistic and true to their type (gender), to themselves (consistency of character), and to the laws of necessity and probability. While the characters should be realistic, Aristotle suggests that they should also be “more beautiful,” idealized, elevated, or ennobled.

*tragic hero:

  • not too good (perfect); not too evil
  • realistic (true to type/character)
  • self-consistent
  • fall from happiness (prosperity, glory) to misery
  • tragic error or tragic mistake (not necessarily a moral issue)
  • THOUGHT, DICTION, SONG, SPECTACLE: These elements are below Plot and Character in order of importance. If the construction, or Plot, of the play is sound, then the superior poet will not need to rely upon these or, at the very least, they will take care of themselves.
  • peripeteia: A sudden reversal of fortune, or circumstances, leading to the protagonist’s downfall. The peripeteia should be closely related to the anagnorisis (recognition).
  • anagnorisis: Meaning “recognition” or “discovery,” Aristotle uses these to denote the turning point in a drama at which the protagonist recognizes the true state of affairs, having previously been in error or ignorance. We might say this is the moment in which the “tragic hero” recognizes his “tragic error” or “tragic mistake.” Perhaps, too, we can call this a “moment of clarity.” For example, Oedipus recognizes that he killed his father, married his mother, and brought a plague upon his people.
  • deus ex machina: A weakness in a tragedy or a writer who relies upon this artifice to resolve the Plot, rather than the action resolving itself according to the laws of probability and necessity. Literally, it means “god in/from the machine,” and it involved the lowering of a god onto the stage via machinery in order to resolve the entanglements of the situation/plot.
  • Catharsis: The “purging” of pity and fear in the tragic audience. These emotions, feelings are aroused by the action and assuaged by its resolution.
  • pity =eleos: compassion for Pathos bearer
  • terror/fear = identification with Pathos bearer
  • pathos= Passion, key/religious suffering

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III. PROBLEMS with ARISTOTLE

  • To understand Shakespearean, it is not completely necessary to discuss/study/begin with Aristotle at all...
  • “Given these examples, we should remember that Aristotle’s theory of tragedy, while an important place to begin, should not be used to prescribe one definitive form which applies to all tragedies past and present” (Brown 4).
  • Aristotle=less about defining tragedy than about answering Plato’s challenge
  • Thus, I believethe title of his book seems to point to this intention.
  • Thus Aristotle=philosophical debate, not literary exegesis
  • Plato claims poets=danger to orderly society becausethey appealed to the irrational part of man; Aristotle claims poets= acceptable in a utopian republic because passions are purged in process of play
  • BUT it is uncharacteristic of Aristotle to define tragedy in terms of audience psychology, for he focuses on dramatic structure, not dramatic effect
  • his definition did not fit all “tragedies” then, hasn’t fit all since
  • history:
  • the evolution of the tragic form (not taken into account)
  • different cultures (almost 2,000 yrs. apart)
  • history (events, different world)
  • Christianity (different religions, practices, sacrifices)
  • no “hubris” in Aristotle (thus no tragic flaw)
  • Tragic Hero:
  • not common, ordinary person
  • but larger than life
  • unrealistic
  • Tragic Hero:
  • “high or noble character”
  • not about socio-political station (class, birth)
  • but about moral choice
  • they make the right choices, practice good actions  make good habits  create good (“high or noble”) character
  • Tragic error:
  • tragic error/error in judgment (ignorance, misinformation, mistaken identity)
  • =inappropriate for all TH
  • some suffer due to circumstances beyond their control
  • Tragic Hero’s death:
  • nothing in Aristotleconcerning the necessity for hero’s death
  • (but evident throughout Shakespearean Tragedy)
  • Recognition:
  • not found in all plays
  • translation:
  • noble action= moral character OR serious/majestic action?
  • proper magnitude=subject matter OR production length?
  • catharsis=audience psychology; more about logical & necessary resolution of the situation--arising from the plot/hero’s actions; response to Plato or part of observed tragic tradition?; relieves pity and fear or just logical resolution of plot?
  • hamartia=
  • character flaw OR moral judgment?
  • concerns plot OR character?
  • moral weakness/character flaw (someone has to be to blame, see Job)=inappropriate for all Tragic Heroes
  • character flaw=oversimplification (“The tragic protagonist is always larger than life, a person of action whose decisions determine the fate of others and seem to shake the world itself” (Brown 3).
  • (**why TH affects whole community, why TH=Prism, his innate nobility allows him to be prism, to affect whole society)
  • Larry Brown: <

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THOUGHTS:

--no Christian tragedy:

“Many people feel that if God rewards goodness either on earth or in heaven there can be no tragedy. If in the end each person gets what he or she deserves, tragedy is impossible. Tragedy assumes that this universe is rotten or askew. Christians believe that God is good and just, hence, for certain scholars tragedy is logically impossible.”

THOUGHTS:

(Tragedy = “sacrifice” of emotions, i.e., pent-up violence; outlet; aroused & purged on altar/stage)

(PS=purification of plot: sins & crimes are cleansed by suffering, recognition, death)

(Tragedy=RITUAL: controlled environment in which we can commit, through identification w/TH, the worst sins of state/religion and not be punished but be purged of that temptation or urge.....SHKN-T= purging of rebellion/regicide from QEN audience, thus SHK’s Tragic Lesson=control emotions & stay in caste.... BUT SHK always has universality to transcend his age, so Tragic Lesson=for all, @ murder)